Gahhh. Finally~ xD This is the third time I'm rewriting this and I'm finally content with the result ^.^ Not sure abou the timeline though - it continues from after the SS arc up to present chapters~

Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by his Awesomeness Kubo-sama~

…

…

~*He loves her from the stories he's heard*~

…

"When our mother died, she took on her role. She was basically the pillar of the family, the thing that kept us together. I have no idea how we'd have coped without her."

…

Hanataro was used to coming to the human world. He would be dispatched to do easy missions from time to time but still, he'd find himself coming to see his friends there more often than not.

Ichigo-san and his friends who he'd come to know since they always stuck with their orange-haired comrade. Friends he'd met thanks to his work. And random strangers he talked with in the toilets.

Everyone in the human world was certainly much better mannered than in the Soul Society. He suffered much less abuse among humans than among death reapers. That should say something about the death reapers' actions.

He quite liked it here.

Only because he was treated better.

Yeah, right.

…

"She will always cook us awesome meals. Father will grin and shout praises for her cooking and he'll be so obnoxious either I or Ichi-nii would kick him. Then, he'll crawl to mom's poster and cry that he's being treated so badly by his own children. And then, he'll shout, "But no matter! Your spirit rests in our cute little Yuzu! She'll never stop making such tasty meals". And Yuzu will blush and mutter something humbly; but we all knew that she deserved the compliments even if they came from our idiotic dad."

…

Hanataro had met Karin-san while he was doing just another easy (even for him!) mission. She'd sensed the hollow he'd been about to kill and she'd kicked him with her ball, effectively making it turn its attention to her. Then he'd been able to kill it effortlessly.

After that, she's intercepted his path and asked /demanded/ if he was like her brother, Ichigo. Stunned, he'd agreed and she'd asked /forced/ him to train her to be an effective "whatever the hell you weirdoes call yourselves".

And that had been the start of an interesting, albeit a tentative friendship.

Karin-san was quite like her brother. She was determined to train and get better and better and Hanataro couldn't deny that he was surprised by her hidden talents.

(like brother, like sister)

In between training, Karin-san liked talking. She talked of the people she cared about: she talked of her little band of boy-buddies for football and her girlfriends from her class; she talked of his brother's friends who were in a way her own friends too; she talked of a "someone from your weird kind" who came into her life one Friday afternoon and waltzed out of it the same Friday afternoon; she talked of her brother and her father whom she loved both from the bottom of her heart despite the fact that she'd never say that to anyone. She talked of her.

Yuzu-san.

…

"Haha, I think she'll love you, Hanataro. You'll allow her to dress you up and stuff you with all kinds of cakes and you'll have tea parties with her and–"

…

Karin-san's tales created an image of an amazing beauty in Hanataro's mind. He started to love coming to the human world to see Karin-san just so he could listen about Yuzu-san. Each mention of her set him feeling light-headed and grinning stupidly.

Karin-san didn't say anything though. However, she continued to talk about her twin sister.

And Hanataro had found himself slipping.

…

"She's started to sense that I'm keeping secrets from her. She's been throwing me these looks; you might think I've killed someone or something! I know that it hurts her but it'll be better if she doesn't know anything… Right?"

Hanataro instantly agreed.

…

He hadn't wanted to. Really. But he couldn't help it.

He hadn't even met her in person.

But, yet, he felt he knew her better than some people. He felt her like one of his close friends.

He wanted that to change.

(Ganju had commented that he looked better once when he'd visited him in the human world. Rukia just smiled evilly and sketched adorable bunnies having tea parties in her Evil Sketchbook of Doom and Ichigo was as clueless as ever.)

…

"Hehe, she has a crush, you know? Some guy who's apparently quite popular with the ladies. I've seen him, actually, and I can't say he's something amazing. Rather, he's hideous. And he doesn't have good grades."

Hanataro felt his heart do a strange backflip at the sound of her words.

…

Karin-san was getting sadder and sadder with each passing week. She and Hanataro didn't meet that much so Hanataro could see that with ease.

It went without saying: the rift between the twins was getting bigger and bigger. The meek boy wanted to do something because Karin-san was his friend despite the fact that he still attached the suffix '-san' to her name; and because he'd developed quite the serious crush on Yuzu-san and although he still hadn't met her, he didn't want her to feel sad.

"Karin-san, are you sure it wouldn't be easier if you just told her the truth?" he'd asked her once.

In response, she'd punched him.

…

"Yuzu confessed to that fucking creep but he turned her down. She's now heartbroken."

Hanataro felt sad and disgusted that somewhere he could find a small hope.

…

The next time they met, Karin-san was wearing her hair up in a ponytail. She sported an arrogant façade but he knew better. In a few seconds, she'd beaten him to the ground.

Then they sat together and she let out everything that was on her mind. How much she missed the normal football matches with her friends who'd just entered puberty and were met with every bad thing that comes with that. How much she was bored by her school life – gossip, gossip and only gossip. How worried she was for her brother who had deeper bags under his eyes with each passing day. How much she missed her bond with her sister.

Hanataro didn't say anything during her tirade. He stayed silent even after she finished and both of them stayed in a strange silence.

Then, on a completely different note, she said:

"Yuzu's grown out her hair."

In response, his mind conjured up the image of a wonderful beauty with long hair, looking out to a sunset, all soft colours and warmth, and promptly blushed.

Karin just grinned evilly.

…

"It's interesting how she got all the nice treats. She's girly and pretty and cute. She can cook and do any domestic work. Yet, the only thing I do is hang out with the boys and play soccer."

Hanataro didn't say anything since he kind of agreed. He agreed Yuzu-san was amazing.

…

Hanataro didn't think the twins should be compared to each other. Each one of them had her own nice qualities. To him, Karin-san was a perfect friend, someone to banter with and have jokes and be abused by (of course, that was just his opinion. One shouldn't look any farther than the captain of the Tenth division to prove it otherwise.). But, Yuzu-san… she was a goddess. He couldn't contain his small, shy smiles each time Karin-san talked about her.

Karin-san herself even noticed that and loved teasing him.

…

"Hanataro? Hey, Hanataro, I don't have much time to explain but get your butt over here right away. There's something wrong with Ichi-nii and–"

The voice was cut off. Hanataro glanced at the phone, confused. Was it a glitch of the phone? After all, he was new to this technology and all… No, her voice was truly worried.

What had happened?

Quickly, he looked around. He was close to the Kurosaki's house and he was in quite a crowded street so he decided that there was no reason to get out of his gigai.

Instead, he ran.

…

Karin-san met him in front of the house. She looked more impatient than worried so Hanataro slowed down a bit. At that her eyes widened.

"Quickly, quickly, you slowpoke," and ushered him into the house.

Hanataro found himself in a completely new setting. He hadn't come to that house a lot so he couldn't orient himself. And then, he heard something heavenly.

"Hello? Karin-chan? Is that you?" a young girl with sandy hair opened a door and peered at him, "Eh? Who are you? Are you a friend of Karin-chan's?"

Hanataro felt his cheeks heat up as an enormous amount of blood went up to his cheeks. Then, he promptly, lost his balance and fell.

Omake:

.

Karin smiled as she heard the loud thump and Yuzu's squeal of horror. She opened the window of Ichi-nii's bedroom and grinned at the girl sitting there.

"Soo? How did it go?" Rukia asked excitedly.

"Perfectly," the younger girl grinned with self-satisfaction.